Cross reference is made to copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/621,270, entitled xe2x80x9cFlow Control Device Having a Lip Seal and Compressible Bypass Pads and Associated Method for Operating an Appliance Water Valvexe2x80x9d by Michael R. DuHack and Ser. No. 09/621,437, entitled xe2x80x9cIntegrated Filter and Noise Suppressor Device for a Water Valve Assembly and Associated Method for Operating the Samexe2x80x9d by Michael R. DuHack, both of which are assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and both of which are filed concurrently herewith. The disclosure of each of the above-identified patent applications is hereby totally incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates generally to appliance water valves associated methods for making the same.
Electrically operated water valves are commonly used in many household appliances such as a refrigerator for providing a flow of water to appliance components such as icemakers and water dispensing units. Such appliance water valves are generally controlled by a controller associated with the appliance thereby providing a flow of water, at a predetermined flow rate, for use by the appliance.
Due to the highly competitive nature of the appliance industry, it has become increasingly necessary to reduce costs associated with manufacture of the appliances. As with any type of manufacturing, one way to reduce the cost associated with an article of manufacture is to reduce the cost of the components from which the article of manufacture is constructed. Hence, in the particular case of the appliance industry, one way of reducing the cost associated with the manufacture of a given appliance is to reduce the cost of the components from which the appliance is constructed.
Accordingly, it has become increasingly necessary to reduce the cost of, for example, the water valve which is assembled into a refrigerator. Several problems exist with current assembly methods for appliance water valves which tend to increase costs associated with the valve. For example, heretofore designed water valves are assembled by use of weldments and fasteners such as screws. The manufacturing processes associated with the use of weldments and fasteners are often difficult to control and monitor thereby increasing costs associated with manufacture of the water valve. In particular, the use of fasteners has heretofore been difficult and expensive to automate thereby necessitating a labor intensive manual assembly process for installing the fasteners. Moreover, weldments have typically undesirably required relatively tight tolerances in both component design and assembly techniques thereby necessitating that use of relatively expensive manufacturing techniques to work with such tight tolerances.
In addition to reducing costs associated with the water valve, there also exists an increasing need to increase performance of the water valve. In particular, it is becoming increasingly important for appliance water valves to be capable of providing for a relatively constant flow rate across a broader inlet water pressure range. In particular, heretofore designed elastomeric flow control devices have typically been unable to produce a constant flow rate a relatively low inlet water pressures (e.g. 10-20 psi). As a result of this, certain flow control devices have been designed with features which provide for a bypass flow of water around the flow control device. While these attempts have produced somewhat favorable results at low pressures, the bypass flow of water around the flow control device also exists at high water pressures thereby undesirably providing for a flow rate at high water pressures which exceeds the desired flow rate.
What is needed therefore is an appliance water valve which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks. What is particularly needed is an appliance water valve that is relatively easy to assemble and does not require the use of weldments or fasteners. What is also particularly needed is an appliance water valve that provides for a substantially constant flow rate at relatively low inlet water pressures.
Pursuant to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a water valve assembly. The assembly includes a valve body having defined therein (i) an inlet, (ii) an outlet, (iii) a central cavity, and (iv) a component access opening, wherein fluid advancing into the valve body through the inlet must pass through the central cavity before exiting out of the valve body through the outlet, and further wherein the component access opening is configured so that a valve component may be advanced into the central cavity through the component access opening. The assembly further includes a retaining bracket having a retaining portion positioned in relation to the valve body so as to block advancement of the valve component from the central cavity to a location outside of the valve body through the component access opening.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful appliance water valve.
It is moreover an object of the present invention to provide an improved appliance water valve.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and useful method of making an appliance water valve.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of making an appliance water valve.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the attached drawings.